NYC Restaurant Vaccine Card Fight Was Racially Motivated: Protesters

Protesters demonstrated outside Carmine’s restaurant in New York City on Monday night after the release of footage of a fight between a hostess and three customers. Initially, Carmine’s said the Sept. 16 rumble happened when the three women refused to show vaccination cards but later said the women did show their cards upon entry. In the video, it appears that as the three women were walking through the restaurant to join a larger party, a hostess—who was Asian—may have said something as she passed by. Whatever the hostess said, it had an effect on the three women. They stopped walking, turned around, and followed the hostess outside to the stand where they surrounded her. A scuffle broke out among the customers, employees, and other people at the restaurant. Witnesses said the incident was racially motivated, and the women said the hostess had used a racial slur when she walked past them, which they took as an assault. The three women were charged with misdemeanor assault and criminal mischief. Meanwhile, Carmine’s owner, Jeffrey Bank, said his staff acted “appropriately and professionally.” Demonstrators on Monday called for the restaurant to be canceled and for the hostess to be fired.